Here's What's Going On With Final Fantasy X-3

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD has now been released in Japan, which means that despite not releasing in the West until mid-March, the audio drama and written novel are now accessible to the international audience.

Many expected these to conclude the Final Fantasy X story-arch, offering up something that was nothing more than fan service. However, now we know the content of these featurettes, it seems to be quite a different situation entirely.

Both the audio drama, which is entitled Final Fantasy X ~Will~ and the novel, which is entitled Final Fantasy X-2.5 ~Price of Eternity~ were penned by Kazushige Nojima. He wrote the original story, as well as Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII.

In a chronological sense, Final Fantasy X-2.5 takes place after Last Mission, with Final Fantasy X ~Will~ being the current final chapter of the experience. Final Fantasy X-3 then comes into the equation because the end of the audio drama very much leaves things open for another adventure.

Either way, more is certain to surface when the Western version of the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Collection releases. At the moment, we are using fan-based translations to determine everything. And that's not to discredit their skills, but we won't 100 percent understand Square Enix's intentions until we know, without any uncertainty, that everything that happens is what was intended to happen.

As always, when we get more details, we will be sure to fill you in.

To add to this, Nojima himself was interviewed for the HD Collection's Ultimania. In this interview he expressed his interest in creating a Final Fantasy X-3, but said it was out of his hands. This then had the classic caveat of if there's demand..." Where have we heard that before?

Now, this is quite unrelated, but when Final Fantasy X-2 was announced over a decade ago, there was talk about a Final Fantasy X-3. It was believed that this experience had already been penned, with the plan to have Final Fantasy X-2 about Yuna's story post-Sin and Final Fantasy X-3 to be about Rikku's story post-Sin. With the audio drama, it looks as though this will no longer be the plan.

Darryl was playing Final Fantasy before he was even born - quite a feat! Often very opinionated on the Final Fantasy franchise, you will often find him musing about small details. Feel free to follow him on Twitter.